By Anonymous
It’s not every day you find yourself falling in love with the place that you call home. Being a student, I’ve lived in a number of different cities and previously I’d have said that I’d never felt tied enough to any of them to make me stay for longer than I had to. But all that changed when I moved to Lyon in September for my Year Abroad, and now I’m here, I never want to leave.
I can’t put my finger on what it is exactly that draws me to Lyon. It could be the fact that it’s a “tad” more aesthetically pleasing than previous hometowns (sorry Brum…), maybe it’s that there’s never a dull moment here, even when there’s a lockdown. Or perhaps it’s how living here has changed me as a person; no longer that insecure, anxious 20-year-old but rather a confident, adventurous young woman.
What I do know is that it’s the small things about Lyon that I’ve come to love (and know I’ll miss when it’s time to leave): the smell of freshly baked baguettes that fills the streets; the friendly ‘bonjours’ that greet you on your way to work (or the bakery) every morning ; and especially the fact that it’s acceptable to eat a patisserie at any time of day…
I’m not going to pretend that Lyon is perfect; yes, the almost weekly occurrences of protests and strikes are a huge pain when you’re trying to get from one side of the city to another with disrupted transport links; yes, the weather here is almost as bad as it is in England! But when I think of what an ideal city is, Lyon is that for me. It’s a city that’ll be in my heart forever – I’ll never, ever forget it.
By Anonymous x
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